Hi I was wondering if any of you can help me with the cost for the below pic, I already have ceiling tiles but I would like to replace these with a plasterboard ceiling and find out costs without labour as I have a family member who will do this for free, but I will need cost to install lights including labour as he will not do this.

I am looking at doing 2 rooms like this (first room is 32sq mt, the second room 12.5sq mt) see pic below

The rest of the house I will do as normal without the blue light but I will need the ceiling edges done like this, see pic below

The cost above need to be per sq meter so I can work out the rough cost for the house,also what lighting would you use, I am going for energy saving bulbs but I don't know if to use LED's or just normal energy saving lights ?

Three years ago I paid TB 15,000 to have similar PB ceilings with a small drop down/pelmet area where it meets the wall.

It was three bedrooms and a lounge area which I guess was 50-60 m2. That covered all ceiling materials (frame & PB), down lights throughout, paint and labour. Good job as it is still up and no signs of movement or peeling paint.

So around TB 270 per m2 all up (Materials & labour) , so possibly around TB 230 per m2 without labour

As for the energy saving lights... Go for 3 Watt LED's. Buy a branded one, like Philips, Osram... They give a very nice light, have a compact, normal bulb form and you'll never have to worry about toxic dust when they break or whatever.Just test and decide if you like clear bulbs or the soft-tone bulbs.I'm in the middle of ceilings going in now, after that, the whole house will be LED except 3 TL's in the back. but again they are T-8, the very slim new type, not the older fat tubes.Total 35 light-points or so and less than 250 watt.

pipoz wrote:Three years ago I paid TB 15,000 to have similar PB ceilings with a small drop down/pelmet area where it meets the wall.

It was three bedrooms and a lounge area which I guess was 50-60 m2. That covered all ceiling materials (frame & PB), down lights throughout, paint and labour. Good job as it is still up and no signs of movement or peeling paint.

So around TB 270 per m2 all up (Materials & labour) , so possibly around TB 230 per m2 without labour

pipoz

Thanks for the info, as it was 3 years ago i guess it's best to go with 300 per m2 as I am sure prices have gone up and if this includes everything then I am happy as I have a budget set for 40k for a house around 100 m2 so it should come in at around 30k

schuimpge wrote:As for the energy saving lights... Go for 3 Watt LED's. Buy a branded one, like Philips, Osram... They give a very nice light, have a compact, normal bulb form and you'll never have to worry about toxic dust when they break or whatever.Just test and decide if you like clear bulbs or the soft-tone bulbs.I'm in the middle of ceilings going in now, after that, the whole house will be LED except 3 TL's in the back. but again they are T-8, the very slim new type, not the older fat tubes.Total 35 light-points or so and less than 250 watt.

Cheers,Luc

Thanks for the info, how much does the 3 watt LED cost and also how do I figure out how many I need for a room ?

LEDs are about 120 baht a piece nowadays for branded ones. The fittings are standard, so no problems there.I put a minimum of 4 per room but some have up to 9. Mine are all 6 watt, too much it seems, but only learned that afterwards from Briank's comment. Will have to see on that, might replace some with lower output later. Then use the extra ones in my current house.

schuimpge wrote:LEDs are about 120 baht a piece nowadays for branded ones. The fittings are standard, so no problems there.I put a minimum of 4 per room but some have up to 9. Mine are all 6 watt, too much it seems, but only learned that afterwards from Briank's comment. Will have to see on that, might replace some with lower output later. Then use the extra ones in my current house.

Cheers,Luc

One of the major complaints you read in reviews of LED bulb is regarding low lumen output ... another is the beam being focused like a spotlight to compensate for this low output; makes the bulb seem brighter than it really is. My experience [as with Luc's 6 watt bulbs] is quite different. In my hall/lobby I had 3 watt bulbs and the light output/spread/colour were all fine ... Warm White is essential indoors from my point of view. As an experiment I changed two of the bulbs for 5 watt units and it really is too bright now. Comparisons stated in the media are misleading ... some intentionally due to bias ... some are not comparing eggs with eggs ... light output rated in Lumens doesn't tell the whole story. This article gives some relevance to the last comment http://www.ledsource.com/blog/lumen-out ... en-vs-led/

LED's have come on a long way in the last few years and are likely to go much further in the next few. Those who have experimented with early bulbs may not have been too impressed ... especially with unbranded Chinese bulbs ... although I have generally been happy with mine. As Luc stated ... prices are much better now for decent quality bulbs ... mind you I haven't seen a branded 6 watt on the shelves of Chiang Mai stores for 120 Baht yet. Best price around that wattage is probably the Panasonic 7 watt at 239 Baht. Tell us more Luc

“Some days I am an optimistic pessimist ... other days I am a pessimistic optimist”

I was off a bit with 120b branded LEDs, Osram 6w is currently discounted at HomePro at 199 Baht. Would need to check the bills, as I really thought I paid less for these, but.. Cheapest 6 watts are around 120 Baht, some Chinese brand I guess, given that the name was Katie or something.

Edit.. Checked a bit more.. Lekise, Philips and Lamptan all have 5W standard bulbs for 179 Baht..And a choice between CDL Cool Day Light and WW Warm White.There are also classic retro-design bulbs where the filaments of old are now tiny led strips with a clear glass bulb.. 370 Baht...

Last edited by schuimpge on Fri Apr 18, 2014 4:28 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Hard to say. For the second one, don't think you can go wrong with it. Lamptan is a pretty good brand, not sure if it's considered an a-brand nowadays, but sure close to it. As for shape, it depends on your fixtures. Clear and non-clear bulbs again a personal choice.Brian went for clear 3 watt, I got the frosted/milk 6 watt. Seems the clear glass spread the light more..

Good luck with testing. Might be easier first to go to a HomePro or other large store and test more different lamps.

schuimpge wrote:I was off a bit with 120b branded LEDs, Osram 6w is currently discounted at HomePro at 199 Baht. Would need to check the bills, as I really thought I paid less for these, but.. Cheapest 6 watts are around 120 Baht, some Chinese brand I guess, given that the name was Katie or something.

Edit.. Checked a bit more.. Lekise, Philips and Lamptan all have 5W standard bulbs for 179 Baht..And a choice between CDL Cool Day Light and WW Warm White.There are also classic retro-design bulbs where the filaments of old are now tiny led strips with a clear glass bulb.. 370 Baht...

Maybe I should give HomePro another look as [here in CM anyway] they have always been crap on LED ... just pushing CFL big-time. They had LED in their catalogue [at a ludicrous price] but the staff didn't appear to even know such a thing existed. On my last visit they had some GATA brand 5W at sub 200 Baht ... GATA like LAMPTAN is a Thai manufacturer/distributor but neither disclose where the LED's originate ... as appears to be the norm in S E Asia

“Some days I am an optimistic pessimist ... other days I am a pessimistic optimist”

schuimpge wrote:HomePro has a very good on-line catalog where you can direct order with free delivery. Both English and Thai. There's a link for the shop on their normal web page.

Thanks, this is where I got the pics from, both lights from Lamptan, I don't like the idea of just testing them at Homepro as I feel it's better to take them home and test in your own house to get the feel of the light as no two houses are the same, I was thinking of going with 3 watt for the front room as it will have more fittings and 5 watt for the other rooms but I will have to see how the test goes!

On another note I have found where to buy the LED strip lights (E-Bay/ Amazon) for the front room & bedroom, cost about £20 (1100 Baht) per 5mt, but was looking at YouTube and found this and was looking at this for the front room but cost a lot more than E-Bay ! but the lights do look good !